stephanie, any idea what the tipping point was in the decision to call off the race? >> reporter: lester, there was a debate over whether or not -- the race would divert resources from the city, but really this boiled down to in the end a question of sensitivity and one of the biggest symbols of what people are beginning to perceive as a lack of sensitivity are these generators behind me. they were brought in by race organizers to do things like power the race clock and media tent. but they're large enough to power 400 homes and as you know, there are a lot of homes in this city without power. these generators were on the front page of the new york post today, triggered a lot of anger. that anger grew throughout the day. lester? >> the decision has been made, but let's think there is usually 45,000 or so runners that come from the marathon, most of them from out of town. how hard is it to unwind an event of this magnitude? >> reporter: it is pretty tricky. almost all of those racers are in town. they have registered. they have their t-shirts. they have their numbers,